Stolen from Anna

Stole this from Anna:

You Are a Strawberry

You are friendly, outgoing, and well liked by many people. You are popular, but there's nothing you ordinary or average about you. You a very interesting person, and you have many facets to your personality. Sometimes you feel very conflicted. Your different sides of your personality pull at you. You are a very sensual and passionate person. You are fiery... you can't help it. In general, you keep your passionate side under wraps. You are only wild in private.

What Type of Fruit Are You?

COF Inchie Circle Journal

I got Andrea's circle journal in the mail this past weekend. I was stunned at the sheer creativeness of her journal. Each page has a place to put our inchies. She asked us to do 1-3 inchies each.Here are the inchies I've done for her journal. The first one is a glittery 3D star sticker. The second one I stamped a flower image, colored and blended it and then daubbed on some brown to give it an antique look. The third one I used the fish from SU Very Punny. I stamped, clored and blended and then applied Crystal Effects to get the bubbly shimmery look. I know these inchies aren't very fancy but I was glad of how they turned out.

COF Circle Journal "instruction" page

I've decided to change my circle journal format. Instead of having each girl do an 8x8 LO, I chose to do a tag instead. This was it won't be as tedious but still fun.

Here is the "instruction" sheet" The empty pocket on the bottom I have placed plain white tags in for the girls to use if they so desire or they can make their own.
Here is my tag entry to get the book started. The blue behind it isn't part of the tag itself. I used My Community cricut cartridge for the tree. I daubbed on the green and blue. The butterflies, money symbols and flowers are all stickers. I then drew the stitching around the edges and the tree. I even made the hole in the tree with my black marker. I wrote the momisms on it with Night of Navy maker.As I work on the other girl's journals, I'll be sure to post what I made.

SBS12 group is moving to Yahoo

SBS12 sisters....we have decided to move the group from the message boards to a yahoo group. Please click on the button to access the group. This is only for the SBS12 gals. All others will be rejected.

Click to join sbs12sistahs

Dawn's birthday card

Since I gave Dawn her birthday card this morning, I can post if for all of you to see. This is called a spring card. I got the instructions from Splitcoast. I used a piece of SU double sided patterned paper, Rose Red and Regal Rose cardstock. I colored in the Bella image and blended with baby oil. The felt flower I found at the dollar spot in Target last week. The sentiment is also from SU.

COF Circle Journal

I have never participated in a circle journal so when a yahoo group I'm in decided to have one, I had to think about it. So I thought and I figured, why not? It could be a fun project to get my out of my ever proverbial box that I'm in.

We each pick a theme for our journal and then it circulates throughout the group. Each lady has to do a project using the journal's theme. I've chosen to do a tag journal with the theme of "Momisms". You know, the silly sayings that you grew up hearing your mom say. Things like:

Close the door! Were you born in a barn?
Am I talking to a brick wall?
Always wear clean underwear in case you get in an accident.
Answer me when I ask you a question!
You aren’t going out dressed like that!
As long as you live under my roof, you'll do as I say.
Are your hands broken? Pick it up yourself! I'm not your maid!
Did you clean your room?
Did you flush?
Money doesn’t grow on trees!
Don't cross your eyes or they'll freeze that way.
Don't EVER let me catch you doing that again!
Don't make me come in there!
Don't make me get up!
Don't use that tone with me!
Go ask your father.
Go to your room and think about what you did!
Don't walk away when I'm talking to you!
Enough is enough!
How many times do I have to tell you?
I can't believe you did that!
I’m not trying to cool off the whole neighborhood!
How do you know you don't like it if you haven't tasted it?
You just wait until your father gets home!
Who do you think you're talking to?
When you have your own house then you can make the rules!
What part of NO don't you understand?
What if everyone jumped off a cliff? Would you do it, too?
This hurts me more than it hurts you.
Look at me when I'm talking to you.
I'm not going to ask you again.
I'm going to give you until the count of three...

HAHA! I've heard many of those and sure enough....Emily is hearing them too!

Anyhow, here is my title page to my journal: I did get the definition of momisms and the quote from someone else who did a similar journal.

I used a scrapbook kit that my mother (how ironic) had given me last year that included the patterned paper, the fairies and the colorful flower border in the lower left corner. I used SU Rose Red and Barely Banana cardstock. The black rub-ons are from SU. The red "Momisms" I cut using Cuttin Up cricut cartridge. The handwriting font isn't a font, it's my actual handwriting on the LO itself.

I am in the process of designing the sign in sheet and the "instruction" page. I'll post those when I'm done.

Bella birthday card

I made this card for a co-worker who's birthday was today. The patterned paper is from DCWV Blossoms & Butterflies mat stack. The blue viney looking rubon is by Mini Mark. The flower is from the dollar spot at Target. It is mounted on SU Ballet Blue. I used a seed packet insert.

A facelift for my scraproom

I needed to re-arrange my scraproom so bad and organize my stuff. I finally did it this week. We had our back porch enclosed last year so that I could have a space to craft and Emily had a play room. Plus it added a little over 200 square feet to our house upping the value by about $20,000 since houses in my area are selling for an average of $100/sq ft. Not that we are going to sell anytime soon. The windows on the right are tinted during the day and then mirrored at night. In other words, people can't see in during the day but they can at night if you have a light on. Anyhow, here's a before pic:

And after:

I asked my dad if he could put shelves up for me and he gladly obliged. I love the shelves! They give me so much more room on my table! In the white drawers to the right, I keep my stamps and stickers/rubons. You see what's sitting on the shelves. =) My table isn't a tidy as it should be.


I bought the blue cubes at Target for $14.99. They measure 14.5"x14.5"x14.5" I was really surprised at the depth of these. I pretty much just threw all the stuff up there just to get it off the floor so that I could vacuum. LOL In the tall white cabinetI have some scrapbooks and other odds n ends. I think I'm set on storage for now.

OPH Week#4 Fashion Week

It's fashion week over at One Powerful Hour. Sad to say, I don't know a thing about fashion! I picked up a stamp a few weeks ago and as soon as Caroline posted the theme, I knew the stamp would work!
I stamped it in Close to Cocoa and colored her dress in Pixie Pink. I added some glitter to her stoll, bow and parts of her dress. I swiped a piece of Creamy Caramel across my Close to Cocoa ink pad and the adhered the image.

Friendship Card & work in progress

I've been on a roll today! It stormed for a good part of the day so I sat in my craft room. I went ahead and cut out my pieces for my Christmas cards and started stamping them. I have at least 50 to make so I want to get a head start.

I made a couple of cards for some friend's birthdays I have coming up, namely Dawn. =) I have her card done but I'm not going to post it until the day after her birthday. I want her to see it first.

I made this card as well. I haven't talked to a friend of mine in a while so I made this to send to her. I'm pleased with the way this has turned out. I downloaded the seed packet. I colored the image using my SU Watercolor pencils and blended it with baby oil.


Products Used:
Cardstock: SU Ballet Blue
PP: DCWV Blossoms & Butterflies mat stack
Stamp: Bella
Sentiment: SU Garden Whimsy
Felt flowers: received as a RAK from Anna

ATC Swap

I've made my second ever ATC. These little things are fun! This is for a SBS12 swap. I had two totally different images in mind. At first I was going use the mouse with strawberries and then I found a "Love Is...." cartoon that was really cute. I found this stamp in Hobby Lobby a couple of weeks ago on the clearance rack ($2.27) and snatched it up. I figured since I like to sing and since ATC's usually reflect something about the person making them, this was the perfect stamp!

The mouse/bird stamp is from Stampabilites and the sentiment is from a set that isn't identified. I colored the image using my SU watercolor pencils and then blended it with baby oil. I inked the edges with SU Almost Amethyst. Each ATC is inked differently so it makes them one of a kind. I then mounted it on SU Ballet Blue.

Magnolia Birthday

This card is my first Magnolia card. I've had this stamp for months by way of Anna. I used my Cricut Expresion to cut out the flower behind the stamp. Put a piece of green polka dotted paper behind it and then mounted it on a piece of Certainly Celery cardstock. The stamp is on popup dots.

And now fora personal picture. Jim took this one last night of Emily, kitty (Sweetheart) and I. Emily picked up one of my books and was reading it. Well, technically not reading but making up a story. LOL

SBS12 Gals

Check your spam mail. I have switched the group from the message board to a yahoo group. In the process, I emailed you all an invitation. If you didn't get one, please comment here and I'll make sure to remedy the situation. =0

OPH Week #3 Food and/or Beverage

This week over at One Powerful Hour, the goal was to create something with a theme of Food and/or Beverage. I received my SU Tart & Tangy stamp set this morning and knew exactly what I was going to do with it.

I cut a piece of vellum into a tumbler shape and then inked it with red ink using a sponge dauber. I added glitter to the top using SU Crystal Effects. The line and strawberry came from SU Tart & Tangy. The sentiment is from SU So Very. The top pulls out and reveals a recipe for Strawberry Limeade. The straw is thanks to Emily. She drank a juice box this afternoon while we were at my parent's house checking in on the dogs while they are away to Columbus, MS.

OPH Week #2 Circus Theme

This week at One Powerful Hour the theme is The Circus. This was a toughie for me. I probably should have waited until I got back from Atlanta on Sunday to dive into this one. But I wanted to go ahead and see what I could do. So, here it is:
The stamp is from Alphastamp. I colored it and then daubbed on Cranberry Crisp. It's also mounted on a piece of Cranberry Crisp. I hand wrote the word "circus". The tickets are 3D stickers from EKSuccess that I had in my stash.

More goodies for MIL

Here are some goodies that I did tonight. I have one more project to do tomorrow and I'll be done. I'll be sure to take a picture of the stuffed basket.

Here are some altered paper clips. I couldn't find the huge ones so these are a size up from the normal sized ones. I used my Cricut to cut out flowers and put a brad in the middle of them. The brads are from Making Memories. The Cricut cartridge I used was Accent Essentials which came with my Expression bundle.


These are just plain notecards. I figured my MIL can use them for any occasion. I used SU Chocolate Chip & Regal Rose CS, Georgia Pacific white CS, SU Cranberry Crisp ink, SU Doodle That stamp set, Paper Studio ribbon and used my Cricut Accent Essentials for the flowers.

Some thinking of you cards. I used SU Certainly Celery CS, Georgia Pacific CS, SU Certainly Celery & Night of Navy markers for the stamped image, SU Night of Navy stamp pad for the sentiment, SU Doodle That stamp set and MSE stamp set.

This is a cute purse I made using a single 12x12 piece of cardstock. There is no cutting while making this purse. Just scoring and folding. Angie over at Chicnscratch has an awesome video tutorial that shows you how to do it. It's so simple! I used patterned paper from DCWV Nana's Kids and sheer ribbon in my stash for for the handles. This hold all three sets of cards that I made for a total of 18 cards and envelopes and there's still some space!

Cricut Jukebox??! More cartridges??

I was browsing Custom Crops this afternoon and came across an announcement about the Cricut Jukebox.


Wow! I can't believe it. It sells for $79.99! This is a nifty idea but I don't think I could talk myself into buying it.

I looked on the Cricut website and they don't even mention it.

Here is a sneak peek at two new cartridges: StoryBook and Graphically Speaking

MIL basket contents

Here is what is going into my MIL's basket:
Mug
Glass Candles
Desk Set
Clock
Stamped Candles
Card Set #1

I still have to do a few more things to put in there:
bookmarks
altered pencil holder
thank you cards
thinking of you cards

Card set #1 for MIL basket

Here are some cards that I whipped up for my mother in law's basket. This is set #1. The sentiment comes from SU Curvy Verses. It reads: You're a wonderful reason to celebrate. I made two in each of the three colors. The ribbon I had in my stash and the PP is from DCWV Nana's Kids. I cut the ovals using my Expression. I stamped the sentiment on the ovals and then outlines them using my white gel pen. I mounted the ovals using pop up dots.

Products Used:
Cardstock: SU Lavendar Lace, Certainly Celery & Apricot Appeal
Patterned paper: DCWV Nana's Kids
Stamp: SU Curvy Verses
Ribbon: Stash
Oval: Cut from Cricut
White gel pen

Altered Candles

Here are some candles I did this afternoon while we had a nice storm:



The corresponding backs are in order of the front. Now did that make any sense? The one that says "best friends listen to what you don't say" is on the back of the teacup mice and the one that says "happiness" is on the back of the strawberry mouse. I stamped the whole image and it wraps around the candles. These were fun and easy to make. The flowers and "happiness" are rub-ons. The other sentiment and the mice are stamps. The part that took the longest was the coloring. I got the candles from the dollar store. This is yet another goodie to go into my mother in law's basket.

Altered Clock

I had a blast doing this! This is yet another gift going into the basket to my mother in law. I got her favorite quote from her and put that on the clock. The quote reads:

You find as you look back on your life that
the moments that stand out, the moments you really lived,
are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.
Henry Drummond

I tore the clock apart including taking off the hands. I used the clock face to trace the circle and cut it out. I then modge podged it onto the base. I must admit that my whole intention was to have that octopus looking flower in the middle. I had cut my hole too big so I had to cover my boo-boo. Hence the red flower under the hands. LOL I hot glued the turquoise rhinestones on, that I received from Anna, to mark the hours. I printed the quote on the purple cardstock and mounted it on red and then modge podged that on. Put the hands back on and snapped the face back on.

Products Used:
Patterned Paper: DCWV Pocket Full of Posies
Carstock: SU Real Red & Lovely Lilac
Hot Glue
Turquoise Bling

Altered Desk Set

Caroline over at One Powerful Hour challenged us to see what we could create in one hour. That also includes cleaning! This week's theme was an open theme and since I am making a goodie basket to give to my mother in law next weekend, this was the perfect chance for me to get this part completed.

Here is a before picture:


And here are some after pictures:

I created this desk set for my mother in law. She is a professor at Georgia State University in Atlanta.

The clipboard was a neon green color (only one I could find at Walmart) and I painted the whole red. I then the stamped flowers in white craft ink. I applied the rub-on and then stamped the smaller flowers on the end. I modge podged the patterned paper and used my corner punch. I added the green ribbon to tie the green in the rub-on and the green in the patterned paper together. I then modge podged the whole thing to seal it. I cheated and used a hair dryer to get the paint to dry faster! LOL

The post it note holder was fast and easy. I bought a 4x6 acrylic photo frame and then cut a piece of patterned paper. I stacked some layers and then stamped my flower with stazon in and colored it. The sentiment was stamped in SU Real Red. I added red ribbon towards the bottom to jazz it up a bit. You can't tell in the picture, but there is a space between the post it note and the left hand side. I didn't have a pink post it note pad so the yellow will have to do.

I didn't get to the cup holder as I started this project at 8:40pm this evening. I want to finish that tomorrow.

Products Used:
Patterned Paper: DCWV Pocket Full of Posies
Stamps: SU Delight in Life & miscellaneous
Ink: Stazon Jet Black; SU Real Red
Ribbon: stash
Paint: red acrylic paint

COF Inchie Swap

I just showed you my shape swap for June. I have also completed my inchie swap for July. We could do any theme/color/etc we chose. I decided to do a summery theme. The sand is actual sandpaper. I have paper that looked like water. The shells were buttons. I just cut off the thing-a-ma-jig off the back and glued them on. I then wrote Surf -n- Sand on the top with my SU Night of Navy marker.

Weekend traveling & crafting

Friday afternoon, we decided to take a last minute trip to see some friends that my family has known for 27 years. Jim has met them once. They live about 3 hours from here. We left Friday after work about 6 and got there right before 10. We hit some major traffic once we hit Birmingham that slowed us down a bit.

We got back this afternoon around 530. I turned the AC on in my craft room and went to work. Here's what I did:



These were two jar candles that I picked up at the dollar store. I was in a funky mood so my stuff doesn't match very well. But that's okay...they look kinda neat. I am going to be giving these to my mother in law along with the mug and card. I have a few more things to do for her as well. I used DCWV border paper. The only thing I had to cut to size my paper was when the ends had to meet. Otherwise, the height of the paper was perfect. The ribbon was stuff I had in my stash. The rub-on is from SY and I used my SU scallop punch

My first ATC

On our SBS12 group, we are having an ATC swap. I have never done an ATC so I figured that this would be a great time to try it. I'm pleased with how it turned out, but I decided not to use it. I have another idea in mind. I used my SU watercolor pencils and then to blend, I used baby oil. I love using baby oil to blend. It makes my card smell good and I think it does a nicer job of taking away the lines.

Products Used:
Cardstock: from my stash
Stamp: House Mouse Sleeping With Strawberries; SU Very Punny for sentiment
Color Medium: SU Watercolor pencils & blending with baby oil

Mug n Card

We are going to go to Atlanta (2 hour drive) this 4th of July to see Jim's family. Last time we saw them was this past Christmas. Well, Jim's brother anyhow. We saw Jim's parents when they came down to the beach this past March.

Anyhow...I want to take a basket of altered goodies to his mom. She just raves about the stuff I give her and she really appreciates it. This is the first of many goodies that I'm making for her. I got the idea while browsing Splitcoast. I never would have thought about putting rubons on a mug! I bought a mug at the dollar store and applied SU rubons. I also used a rubon on the card. I picked up a bunch more things to be altered and I'll post those as I finish them. For now, here is the mug and card:

Cardstock: From my stash
Rubons: Stampin' Up

COF Shape Project Swap

Okay. So here is my shape project for my COF swap. Our project for June was to pick a shape and somehow depict that shape that would leave no questions as to what shape we picked. Can you guess mine?

Products Used:
Stamps: SU Curvy Verses & A Little Bit of Happiness
Cardstock: SU Certainly Celery & white
SU Watercolor Pencils

I'm dying to post....

I'm absolutely dying to post some projects that I have completed for some upcoming swaps! But I know there are at least 3 people that it will spoil the surprise for. But I just may say the heck with it. LOL

This n That

I've been busy working in my craft room. I'm hoping to have some pics up this weekend of all the goodies I've been working on. Our digital camera bit the dust last week and we bought a new one Sunday night. So I need to figure out how to work it.

Anyhow, one of my SBS12 sisters, Jami, is giving away some blog candy. She has some stamped images up for grabs from High Hopes Stamps. Their stamps are so adorable!!

Father's Day Card

I whipped up this card this evening for Jim for Father's Day. It didn't take very long at all. I showed Jim this and asked him if it looked ok. He thought this one was for his dad since earlier this evening he asked me if I could make one for his father. Little does he know that this is for him. HAHAHA I guess I need to make another one for Jim's dad. I did have to write in Father's Day underneath the Celebrate as I didn't have a father's day stamp.

The picture is a little dark and out of focus. Our digital camera bit the dust so I had to use my cell phone.



Products Used:
Cardstock: SU Ballet Blue
Patterend Paper: Miss Elizabeth's scrap pack
Stamps: "Celebration" from SU Send a Celebrations; boy from DJ Inkers
Ink: Brilliant Blue

Awesome Blog Candy

Liz is giving away a pair of her awesome earrings that she has made herself. Be sure to stop by and enter your name into the drawing! The rules are simple, just post a link to her giveaway and leave a comment. Easy as pie!

SBS12 sisters

Attention all SBS12 sisters....please stop by the message board as I posted some important information. Please send me any comments at ElisabethKOwen@gmail.com

Thank goodness!

I am so glad May is over! What a horrible month! And June isn't starting off so well either. Just a lot of personal/family issues I have to deal with.

On a good note, I should be able to get back into my craft room really soon. I finally got Emily a kitty (much to my husband's dismay) and that is keeping her entertained. Emily and I went Monday to the Humane Society and I let her pick out a kitty. She choose an orange/white tabby. She named him Sweetheart. I can't believe how quickly this kitty has attached himself to her. If she leaves his sight for a second, he's off meowing while looking for her. She loves to fur her and give her nose kisses. I told Emily that he's hugging her when he furs her. He is totally not scared of her. So he will occupy her while I craft! LOL


I need to work on Thank you notes for Emily's birthday party. I think what I'm going to do is this: Make the card background white, draw Emily's handprint on it, let her color them and write Thank You in the lower right corner. Simple and sweet. LOL I am hoping to really get back in the full swing of crafting. I miss it.

Anyhow...back to work.

Update and a Crafty Creation!!

Thanks to everyone for the prayers and positive thoughts. My father will be okay. He just needs to have a speedy recovery.

Emily's birthday party was on May 10th and I just now downloaded her birthday party pictures. How sad is that??! She had a blast and received many fun presents. I have a slideshow but I need to figure out how to post it here.

And here is my crafty creation:
The yahoo group I'm involved in was having an unusual swap for May. It was called "Unknown Tag Swap". The hostess sent us a "mystery" stamp and we had to come up with a tag using that stamp. The tag could be any size, shape, color, etc. I ended up getting this image of the dog. When I bought my Expression, the Paper Pups cartridge came with it. At them time, I had no idea what I was going to do with that cartridge. As you can see, it came in handy for this swap! I used the fire hydrant and the "woof" off of that cartridge. The bones I bought at ACMoore in a craft pack in the button/charm aisle. I just cut the button doohickey off of the back and glued it on my fire hydrant. I also bought the ribbon at ACMoore. I'm pleased at how this turned out.

Anyhow, we are off to my parents for the afternoon.

Exhausted

Hello girls! Just wanted to check in to let you all know that I am still here. I haven't been motivated to do anything crafty or to even be on the computer.

My dad had an accident this past Sunday and was just released from the hospital this afternoon. Between taking care of my parent's house (which is 16 miles further north than my house) and tending to my normal daily life, I'm utterly exhausted. I didn't sleep at all Sunday night after I left my mom at the ER. I spent all day Monday with my mom at the hospital to keep her company.

My father was riding his riding mower in tractor mode toting some sand behind him in the trailer. The wheel slipped into a hole and tumbled the riding mower and my dad over a brick wall. They fell about 4 feet. My dad jumped away from the tractor and landed on his feet. In the process, he broke his back.

Now, the hole he slipped into to....that is another story. It's not on my parent's property. It belongs to the house next to them that hasn't sold yet. The builders took out the grassy hill and built the wall. Along that wall depending on where you are standing, it's anywhere from a 1/2 ft - 8ft drop. Next to the wall, the ground has settled causing it to have some holes. The builders never came out to fill in the holes so my dad decided that he would fill it in as a temporary fix before one of the grandkids fell and hurt themselves.

My dad has to wear a brace for at least two weeks and he may be out of work for up to 6 six weeks. Knowing him, he'll go back sooner to get away from my mother. LOL I told her that she needs to take some xanax while he's home because things will get ugly.

Anyhow, I'm going to work on the tags this weekend and get them in the mail Tuesday.

Elisabeth

Quick Update

Just a quick post to let everyone know that I'm alive and well. Just been extremely busy preparing for Emily's birthday party, a few other projects and just taking it easy. Not to mention being bit by the Wii'itis bug. LOL I have a lot of blog reading to catch up on and a few other things.

My Song Swap Project

I am in a yahoo group and we participate in monthly swaps. This month's swap (April) was to create a project that matched your favorite song. I scanned it in crooked and didn't feel like fixing it, but you get the idea.

I chose "How Great Thou Art". I've always loved that song and it was the first one that came to mind when I signed up for the swap. We also sent in a copy of our song and then the hostess will put all our songs on a CD and give us each a copy along with each project. I was going to do a picture for each verse, but laziness got the best of me. I did 8 of these. I hope the girls enjoy them.

I copied the song out of the Baptist Hymnal. The images were ones that I found on the internet and I colored them using my pencils and blended. The stamped saying in between the images says "Music speaks the beauty words cannot express!"

Update on Cricut Cart rebate

I got my free cart yesterday! Wooohooo!! And to make it more fun, I got my first pick! Locker Talk! I looked through the book and my mind went into creative mode!! After I finish my swap this week, I'll play around with it.

FINALLY!

This past February, I bought two Cricut cartridges from WalMart so I could participate in the "free" cartridge. All I had to do was pay $14.95 for shipping. Well, I get an email today from FedEx with a tracking number. I thought to myself, I haven't ordered anything lately. Look at teh senders address and it says from Creative Express in Spanish Fork, UT! Wahoo!!! Can't wait to see what cartridge I get!